In
the film, when the CEO Carol Venstone (Jennifer Aniston) tries to
close her hard-partying brother’s branch, Clay Venstone (T.J.
Miller) and his Chief Technical Officer (Jason Bateman) must rally
their co-workers and host an epic office Christmas party in an effort
to impress a potential client and close a sale that will save their
jobs.

For
the character of Clay Vanstone, the directors needed an actor who
could bring equal parts mayhem and legitimacy. They found both in
stand-up comedian and actor T.J. Miller.

“T.J.
is the kind of guy you walk into a bar with and 10 minutes
later he’s the center of a hundred people,” says Gordon.
“He’s as charismatic as the characters he plays.” “T.J.
delivers an incredible amount of heart and humanity that we never
envisioned,” says Speck.

“I
subconsciously based my character on an actual boss I had once who
believed you could have a great time and still get your work done,”
Miller recalls. “She never saw having fun as an obstacle to
productivity, and that’s a philosophy I’ve used to inform Clay’s
management strategy.”

Once
Clay hatches the plan for the Christmas party, he immediately
encounters opposition from Mary (Kate McKinnon), their rules-obsessed
Head of Human Resources.

“Mary
takes her job very seriously, and wants everyone to be safe and
comfortable,” says McKinnon. “The irony is a lot of her rules
make people uncomfortable.”

“When
we first meet Mary, she’s pretty buttoned up,” McKinnon explains.
“As the night rolls on, she gets some encouragement from her
co-workers and goes to some interesting places.”

Speck
and Gordon were fans of McKinnon’s work on Saturday Night
Live long before she was cast in the film. “In her sketches on SNL,
Kate makes each of her characters so idiosyncratic. They’re all so
layered and hilarious, we knew we could just let her run with an idea
and she’d make it sing,” says Gordon.

“The
first time we see Mary, she’s wearing a non-denominational holiday
sweater,” says Speck. “Since it doesn’t exist in the real
world, it took months to design and days to knit by hand, but it
tells you about all you need to know about Mary as a character.”

“We
discussed Mary’s backstory and came to the conclusion that she was
probably German, given her love of rules,” Speck recalls. “We
found this German folk song for her to sing, and without really
translating it, she just decided it was about little ducklings. She
embraced it.”

“Kate
came up with the idea that Mary has parrots, and keeping those birds
alive is what’s motivating her professionally,” Gordon concludes.

Opening
across the Philippines on December 07, Office Christmas Party is
distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia
Pictures.